Rahul condemns arrest of J&K Congress chief

JAMMU: Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday condemned the arrest of the party's Jammu and Kashmir unit chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir and another party leader saying the government has delivered another body blow to democracy.

"I strongly condemn the arrest of our J&K PCC Chief, Ghulam Ahmed Mir and spokesperson Ravinder Sharma in Jammu today. With this unprovoked action against a national political party, the Govt has delivered democracy another body blow. When will this madness end?" Gandhi tweeted.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala also took to Twitter and shared a video in which the police can be seen taking the party's state spokeperson Ravinder Sharma from the press conference along with them.

"Government claims total normalcy in J&K, blatantly and illegally arrests Congress chief spokesman Ravinder Sharma from Jammu while he was briefing the media and places PCC Chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir under house arrest. If this is normal, how are murder of democracy and seize defined?" he said in a tweet.

The remarks of the Congress leaders came after Mir and Sharma were arrested in Jammu during the day.

Senior Congress leader and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad also accused the government of not allowing him to hold a press conference in Jammu and condemned it for detaining him.

Condemning the action of the government, in a statement the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said, "On one side the State and Central government are asserting that Jammu is normal and people are celebrating, while at the same time the leaders of opposition parties are not even allowed to address the press conferences."

"This double speak of the government has exposed it on a number of occasions," he said.

Azad also condemned the government's action of detaining him and taking him to some undisclosed location. He said that this action of the government is in total violation of any democratic norms.

Azad also demanded the immediate release of former Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti and senior leaders of other political parties.